Stories

Matthew is torn from the only world he knows and thrown into fear and uncertainty. Andrew, a passionate writer, discovers more than he bargained for while researching for his book on human trafficking. Read this world-spanning story and learn how their paths cross. Sold Into Freedom is a harrowing yet hopeful tale of survival, resilience, friendship and love.

Newly coming to terms with being gay, following an abusive childhood and a failed relationship with a girlfriend, electrician Keith meets Thomas, who runs a local arts charity. Despite coming from vastly differing backgrounds, the two discover much in common, not least the need to come to terms with complex relationships to their fathers. But they also learn to enjoy exploring life together.

14-year-old Bryan Padilla is caught between worlds he doesn't feel connected to. Having been abandoned by their birth parents at a young age, Bryan and his younger brother, Caleb, were adopted by a family friend, Diego Padilla, and raised in a culture not of their own. Though it is the only life Caleb has ever known, Bryan inwardly struggles with his feelings about life, death, race and sexuality. Things escalate shortly after the death of his birth mother. Can Bryan come to terms with his situation as a figure from his past tries to upend his entire life?

Meeting for the first time in Boarding school, Oscar Q Kingston settles down to life away from his country home town, until an incident with one of his friends, while at home on a boarders weekend had him ending up in a hospital and afterwards changing schools and living with his grandparents on the outer north-east suburbs, where he finds new friends.

Months later he bumps into two of his former friends from his old school and after a bumpy start, they form a close friendship that lasts for many years to come, where they go their own separate ways after school ends, and reunite later for a common cause.

"My grand-father always used to say that everything that happens to us in life happens for a reason. And when we look back on our lives there are some moments that just seem to stick in our minds forever and I can now see what he meant by that."

For Scott Fraser there was one such moment that he remembers well. It was the time when, as a teenager, he saved the life of a young boy who was about to be swept out to sea.

What he couldn't have prepared himself for, however, was what would happen when that same boy comes back into his life some years later . . .

Khurtschono is a bigender neko living in a blended family of werewolves. Soren Eilan has lived a solitary life for the last eight years. An unexpected friendship flourishes when they meet.
But their friendship is based on a lie. That lie will be put to the test when they meet the son of two Wolf Patrol guards.
Can their friendship survive the truth?

Three new characters make their way in the wide world. A group of Shifts from Teshon City orchestrates a rebellion in a far-off country. Teshon City must face a rogue Demifae who desires to return city life to the days when Shifts were hunted in the streets. A powerful witch is consulted, and her sorcery increases the power of her fellow alchemist. The rebellion does not turn out the way the Shifts from Teshon City are expecting, and things back in Teshon City end up even worse.

Also, a little more about the unknown past is revealed in a prequel chapter, featuring two real-life horror celebrities who permitted their on-page deaths!

Can an honourable act redeem a criminal’s past?

Nathan and Brohm are granted a precious gift: their unsavoury pasts are wiped clean, allowing them a chance to restart their lives anew. However, fighting against their old habit of using violence to solve problems proves to be a difficult challenge.

To make matters worse, bloodthirsty creatures are emerging from the dark. Their source—an unexpected visitor known only to Nathan and Brohm—forces them to deal with the threat covertly. But the solution is dire, and both are hesitant to carry out such a profound sacrifice.

A response to Prompt #68:

Imagine where your character leads a pretty decent single life. Then there is a phone call and that life is turned upside down as they find out, they have just become a parent—to a teenager. Is this a cousin that has been left with no other family members? A god child? A niece or nephew? What is this first meeting between them going to be like?

The circumstances whereby Manny obtains guardianship are a little strange, to say the least. Not to mention what happens afterward.

Greg Fowler has been reborn, reforged his life, and been reunited with his newborn brother. Now we join him as he educates himself about his New Reality. While his travels won't cover many physical miles, his education will cover centuries of tradition. Can he learn all he needs to handle his responsibilities? Can he use his newfound knowledge to help his friends? And more importantly, can he use what he learns to help those he finds along the way?

This is Book Four in the "New Reality" series. Reading the first three books is a must if you hope to fully understand the world that Greg and his friends live in.